Mar 7, 2023

Alex Cantwell Notable investments: VAE Labs and Aventuur Which kinds of startups he invests in:  Consumer technology, consumer products, and consumer software raising seed or Series A funding rounds. Check sizes range from $300,000 to $700,000. Why he's on the list: Cantwell is new to venture, having been an executive at Juul Labs until 2021, after starting his career as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Cantwell and his colleagues pride themselves on being operators and builders first, rather than merely investors. "We've first hand built from zero to billions in revenue and tens of billions of market value," Cantwell said. "That gives us a unique edge as we source our investments and positions us to provide considerable help for our portfolio companies across all areas of their business." Geoff Lewis, Bedrock Capital Geoff Lewis Notable investments: OpenAI, Lyft, Plaid, Rippling, Vercel What kinds of startups he invests in: Invests across all sectors, with checks as small as $100,000 and as large as $125 million. Why he is on the list: Lewis started his investing career at Founders Fund before founding Bedrock Capital in 2018. Disillusioned with the Bay Area, Lewis announced in 2021 he was moving to Austin after becoming enchanted with Texas while visiting one of his portfolio companies, Workwise. "I was drawn in by the rebellious yet warm spirit embodied by Texans," Lewis wrote. Lewis was an early backer at Lyft, where he served on the board of directors. More recently, he invested in OpenAI. "I'm most proud of how we navigated the frenzy of 2020 and 2021 as a firm at Bedrock," Lewis told Insider. "Rather than trying to index every high-growth software company with a pulse at peak valuations, we focused with surgical precision on concentrating capital into a very small handful of companies we believe will emerge as generational over the next decade." Sarah Liu, Fifth Wall Sarah Liu Notable investments: SmartRent, Lessen, and Haven. What kinds of startups she invests in: Real-estate and construction startups raising Series A and B rounds. Check sizes are typically $5 million to $20 million. Why she is on the list: Liu was promoted to partner last year at Fifth Wall, one of the largest property-technology-focused VC firms in the world. Though she spends a considerable amount of time in New York City, where the firm is based, Liu calls Austin home. "Our limited-partner network is our greatest differentiator and provides us an edge that extends beyond our sector focus and industry knowledge," Liu told Insider. "We have more than 110 corporate LPs across North America, Europe, and Asia who comprise many of the largest developers, owners, lenders, and operators in the Built World." Krishna Srinivasan, LiveOak Venture Partners Krishna Srinivasan, founding partner of LiveOak Venture Partners Krishna Srinivasan Notable investments: DISCO, Homeward, SchooLinks, Real Work Labs, Ojo, Eventus What kinds of startups he invests in: Early-stage startups with founders and companies based in Texas. First check sizes range from $2 million to $6 million. Why he is on the list: Srinivasan has been investing in Texas startups since 2000, long before it was trendy. And he is one of the few VCs to focus exclusively on Lone Star State founders. He founded LiveOak in 2012, after serving as a partner at Austin Ventures for a decade. Charlie Plauche, S3 Ventures Charlie Plauche Notable investments: Alkami, Levelset, Favor What kinds of startups he invests in: Enterprise-software companies raising seed, Series A, or Series B funding rounds. Check sizes range from $500,000 to $10 million or more. Why he is on the list:  Plauche has spent his entire career as an investor and has seen several successful exits. He was an early backer and board member of Alkami, a cloud-based banking platform that went public in 2021. He also wrote an early check to Levelset, a construction-payment platform that was acquired for half a billion dollars in 2021. While many VCs emphasize their operating experience, Plauche sees his more hands-off style as an asset. "Often, former operators want to get in and fix things directly themselves," Plauche told Insider. "I am more inclined to focus on finding and recruiting the right people to help the founder fix their problem." Aziz Gilani, Mercury Fund Aziz Gilani Notable investments: Cloudsnap, Phurnace, Trendkite What kinds of startups he invests in: Early-stage software-as-a-service, cybersecurity, and IT-infrastructure startups. Check sizes range from $1 million to $6 million. Why he is on the list: As the @TexasVC on Twitter, Gilani has firmly planted his flag there. He is a Houston-based managing director at Mercury Fund, which focuses on software startups in Middle America. Gilani was an early investor in the Austin-based Cloudsnap, an integrator of business applications, which was acquired last year by Paylocity. Brian Spaly, Brand Foundry Brian Spaly Notable investments: AZEK Building Products, Made In, Tribe 9 Foods What he invests in: Seed and Series A rounds in startups that serve consumers and merchants. Why he is on the list: While a student at Stanford's business school, he founded Bonobos, a men's clothing brand that was later acquired by Walmart. In 2009, he founded the Trunk Club, an apparel subscription business that was acquired by Nordstrom in 2014 but shut down last year. Spaly joined the Austin-based Brand Foundry as a general partner in 2020. Joshua Baer and Bryan Chambers, Capital Factory Joshua Baer and Bryan Chambers, Capital Factory cofounders. Capital Factory Notable investments: Icon, Aceable, ZenBusiness, Apptronik, WP Engine, Cart.com, Intuitive Machines, Syzygy, Keen Technologies, Colossal Which kinds of startups they invest in: Early-stage tech startups in Texas across a variety of sectors, including software, healthcare, aerospace, and robotics Why they're on the list: When Baer founded Capital Factory in 2009, the Austin-based startup community opened its accelerator to just five startups a year, according to Crunchbase News . Over a decade later, the organization now boasts a presence in Austin, Dallas, and Houston, a separate early-stage fund run by Chambers that trades 1% ownership for the ability to invest in a startup's next round, and over 81,000 feet of coworking space for entrepreneurs. The two are strong proponents of Texas' startup scene and offer their own past experiences as founders to the entrepreneurs they advise. Morgan Flager, Silverton Partners Silverton Partners Notable investments: Trendkite, Alert Media, TurnKey Vacation Rentals, Self Financial, Convey Which kinds of startups he invests in: Seed and Series A startups across enterprise software, consumer internet and marketplaces, fintech, and healthcare, with typical check sizes ranging from $1 million to $10 million Why he's on the list: Flager's nearly two decades in investing have been prolific, executing 24 investments, 11 acquisitions, and two IPOs during his time at Silverton alone. The Austin-based VC originally started his investing career in Silicon Valley, where he spent two years funding growth-stage startups at FTV Capital in San Francisco. Prior to that, he gained operating experience as a director at Ingrian Networks and Kitana, and as a startup founder. Ford Smith, Ultranative Ford Smith Notable investments: Eaze, Radicle Science, Plantwise, Heading Health, SpaceX Which kinds of startups he invests in: Smith invests in incubation, pre-seed, and seed-stage startups that are focused on healing people and the planet through sustainable wellness. This can include industries like regenerative agriculture, psychedelic and cannabis supply chain, and industrial hemp and bioplastics, with check sizes ranging from $250,000 to $1 million. Why he's on the list: Although he's a Texas native, Smith brings a bit of Los Angeles flavor from his time in the city to his investment theses, as he focuses on areas like psychedelic and cannabis supply chain and industrial hemp. For Smith, investing is personal — the VC funds startups that "facilitate healing for the individual," driven partially by his own personal mental-health journey, he told Insider. Smith's strong desire for social impact has resulted in equally impressive financial returns — he invested early in Eaze, which is now the largest cannabis-delivery company in the US. The investor is also the founding donor and an advisory board member to Eaze's Momentum Program, an accelerator for cannabis business founders from communities affected by the War on Drugs. Kyle Samani, Multicoin Capital Courtesy of Kyle Samani Notable investments: Solana, The Graph, Arweave, Helium, Render Network Which kinds of startups he invests in: Samani injects checks ranging from $500,000 to $25 million into pre-seed, seed-stage, and Series A web3 startups, protocols, or token-focused projects. Why he's on the list: Samani contributes his operating experience as the founder of the health-IT startup Pristine to his current role as a venture capitalist. In 2017, after the tech-training platform Upskill acquired Pristine, Samani cofounded Multicoin Capital, an investment firm specializing in crypto, with more than a billion dollars in assets. The Austin-based VC firm, which counts Andreessen Horowitz as an LP,  focuses on several overarching theses, including decentralized, open finance, the power of Web3, and global, state-free money. Collin West, Ensemble VC Collin West Notable investments: Zoom, Icon, Groww, Carta, Tally Which kinds of startups he invests in: Series A and B startups, with check sizes ranging from $2 million to $8 million Why he's on the list: At first glance, it's difficult to tell which is more impressive — West's long list of investments or his equally long list of extreme hobbies. When the Austin-based investor isn't funding tech giants like Zoom or Carta, he can be found training Brazilian jiujitsu, mountain biking, or climbing mountains. In fact, West and a team of four once broke a Guinness World Record by completing the first Arctic Ocean crossing with human power, rowing a boat over 1,000 miles nonstop and unsupported for 41 days through a devastating storm season. As a founder and managing partner at Ensemble VC, the investor helps startups scale from founder-centric companies to built-out organizations. Rajiv Bala, Clutch VC Rajiv Bala Notable investments: ConverseNow, Allstacks, Reflex, Gravitant, Alkami Which kinds of startups he invests in: Bala funds pre-seed and seed-stage enterprise-software startups in Texas with $250,000 to $2 million checks. Why he's on the list: Every step of Bala's career has been centered around the Lone Star State. First, the investor earned bachelor's degrees in electrical engineering and economics from Rice University in Houston before scoring his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. Bala also spent time as an engineer and marketer at the semiconductor company Texas Instruments prior to transitioning into tech investing at the Austin-based S3 Ventures. Now, as a cofounder and general partner at Clutch VC, the investor is wholly focused on supporting Texas entrepreneurs. Pat Matthews and Cat Dizon, Active Capital Pat Matthews and Cat Dizon, Active Capital cofounders. Active Capital Notable investments: ProsperOps, FounderPath, Living Security, Cart.com, Teleport Which kinds of startups they invest in: Early-stage enterprise-software or cloud-infrastructure companies across a wide variety of sectors, with a preference to invest $250,000 to $500,000 checks into pre-seed rounds and lead or co-lead the following seed rounds. Why they're on the list: Active Capital cofounders Matthews and Dizon make quite the team — while Matthews contributes his personal experience as a tech founder, Dizon brings her expertise as a former M&A executive at Rackspace to help companies scale into their growth phases. The two are passionate about supporting tech startups outside of the traditional Silicon Valley bubble, and although they're based out of San Antonio, they invest in companies outside of the Texas ecosystem as well. Brian Goldberg, Redbud Brands/ Redbud Ventures Brian Goldberg, the founder of Redbud Brands and Redbud Ventures Brian Goldberg Notable Investments: Picadas, TSUMo Snacks, Wellcore, Cheddie's, Medicine Mama What kind of startups he invests in: Goldberg invests in a variety of different stages of startups with his different Redbud Brands vehicles. Through Redbud Ventures, he backs seed to Series A consumer health-and-wellness companies, and through his SPV, he focuses on growth-stage companies in this sector. He also personally invests in startups from any stage and a variety of sectors at smaller check sizes. Across sectors and funding stages, he looks for founders that "know the drivers of the business" and have a "mindset of wanting to learn and grow as a leader." Why he's on the list: Brian Goldberg focuses on backing startups in the Austin consumer-packaged goods business world, having a hand in breakout food-and-beverage brands like Sweet Leaf Tea, Deep Eddy Vodka, and Waterloo Sparkling Water. Through Redbud Ventures, he's helped build, incubate, and back up-and-coming food, beverage, and consumer-wellness brands, and is a carried interest holder in venture-backed companies like Torani, KOS, and Physician's Choice. Sara Brand and Kerry Rupp, True Wealth Ventures Kerry Rupp and Sara Brand, general partner and founding general partner of True Wealth Ventures True Wealth Ventures Notable Investments: Queen of Raw, Dermala, Atlantic Sea Farms, De Oro Devices, Refiberd What kind of startups they invest in: Through True Wealth Ventures, Brand and Rupp back early-stage, women-led companies that are explicitly improving human and environmental health, meaning at least one woman of significant decision-making power is on the founding or C-suite-level executive team in a full-time capacity. Their first checks are usually between $500,000 and $1 million. Why they're on the list: When Brand and Rupp closed True Wealth Ventures' first $19.1 million fund out of Austin in 2018, it was the largest fund ever raised at that time with an explicit gender-diversity-focused strategy and with over 80% women LPs as well, Venture Capital Journal reported. Brand and Rupp have since closed an oversubscribed $35 million Fund II at the end of May 2022 to back women-led healthcare and sustainability startups. As general partners, both Brand and Rupp have extensive technology and investing experience: before founding True Wealth Ventures, Brand managed a $150 million venture fund at Fremont Ventures in San Francisco, and Rupp led the Dreamit startup accelerator and venture fund. A founder's story and drive for starting a company is essential to whether they decide to invest, Brand said. "Being able to understand the motivations of a founder on a human level, not just the business fundamentals, is a key driver for us in our process," she said. Roger Chen, Silverton Partners Roger Chen Notable Investments: Apprentice, Billie, Clerk, Rx Redefined, Wheel What kind of startups he invests in: Chen backs startups at the seed and Series A stages in B2B software, digital health, fintech, and marketplace businesses. His typical check size is between $500,000 and $8 million depending on the stage and capital needs of the business. Why he's on the list: Chen has been a partner at Silverton Partners in Austin, Texas, since 2017, leading deals across software companies with high growth potential, he told Insider. Before that, he was a principal at Genacast Ventures in New York focused on B2B-software investing. After a decade of investing, Chen has found that he likes when founders get his attention through a warm referral, but he will look at cold emails, too: "I take an inbox-zero approach to email, so I read everything," he said. Rayyan Islam, 8090 Industries Rayyan Islam Notable Investments: Cemvita, Infinium, Oklo, Quaise, Cirv What kind of startups he invests in: Islam invests in seed through Series B-stage startups focused on industrial decarbonization and the clean-energy transition, with his check sizes ranging from $500,000 to $10 million. Why he's on the list: Based in Dallas, Islam cofounded 8090 Industries alongside industrial- and energy-sector leaders to invest and support technologies that could help decarbonize every industrial sector. Some of his deals include companies such as Quaise, which is converting old fossil-fuel power plants into geothermal ones, and Cemvita Factory, which uses microbes to break down hydrocarbons into reusable metals. When assessing climate-tech pitches, Islam likes founders that can "prove that their breakthrough works and can engineer a real economic solution that helps industrial incumbents navigate the energy transition," he said. Samantha Lewis, Mercury Samantha Lewis Notable Investments:  Topl, Civitech, Syzygy Plasmonics. Brassica, Cooklist, Outrider Technologies What kind of startups she invests in: Lewis looks for startups that support Mercury Fund's "Power" investment theme. She seeks to fund Web3, data platforms, and fintech startups. Why she's on the list: Based in Houston, Lewis is an experienced investor with deep Texas roots: After graduating with an MBA from Rice University, she first worked as the interim COO of a hard-tech startup, then became an investor at Goose Capital. There, she led deal sourcing, structuring, and portfolio management as the firm's investment director before joining Mercury Fund in 2020. Lewis currently serves on the boards of Mercury's portfolio companies Topl, Civitech, Brassica, Cooklist, and a stealth Web3-infrastructure company. Lewis told Insider that she likes to talk to founders about things other than their startups when deciding if she wants to invest in them, because she wants to understand "how they think about the world, about interacting with humans, and about their interests and what drives them," she said. "The more I understand a founder and the more they can understand me, the more fruitful our relationship can be," she said. Ty Findley, Ironspring Ventures Ty Findley Notable Investments: ICON, Plus One Robotics, Harbinger Motors, OneRail, Autonomous Intelligent Machines What kind of startups he invests in: Through Ironspring Ventures, Findley leads and co-leads early-stage seed and Series A deals in construction, manufacturing, transportation, logistics, and alternative energy, with a standard check size from $2 million to $5 million. Why he's on the list: Findley has over a decade of digital industrial-investment experience from his time at Boeing, GE Ventures, G51 Capital, and the Pritzker Group venture-capital fund before co-founding Ironspring in 2020. As a general partner at the fund, Findley likes to back founders who are "completely sold out and passionate" about advancing industrial supply-chain and infrastructure technology. "The sectors we focus on make up over half of the US GDP and employ millions of skilled laborers, and we cannot afford to leave these critical industries behind from becoming more productive, secure, and sustainable," he said. Stephanie Campbell, The Artemis Fund Stephanie Campbell, general partner at the Artemis Fund Stephanie Campbell Notable Investments:  Naborforce, Goodfynd, Payverse, Hello Divorce, DRESSX What kind of startups she invests in: Campbell backs seed-stage female founders in fintech, commerce enablement, and caretech, with a lead-check size of around $1.5 million. Why she's on the list: Based in Houston, Campbell leads seed rounds for female founders in fintech as the cofounder and general partner of The Artemis Fund. Prior to Artemis, Campbell was the managing director of the Houston Angel Network. Campbell first started her career as a government relations associate at the Washington, DC lobbying firm Potomac Partners DC. Campbell told Insider that she gets excited by a founder who has "a deep understanding of the market landscape, their unique value proposition, and what they need to accomplish to hit milestones and scale," she said. "I enjoy working with founders who have a strong handle on the numbers and are eager to use data and iterate quickly to achieve their goals," she said. Ben Mathews, Night Ventures Ben Mathews Notable Investments: Lolli, Italic, Marker Learning, Pearpop, Feastables What kind of startups he invests in: Mathews invests in consumer tech and software in anything from healthtech and gaming to fintech and commerce infrastructure. His typical check size ranges from $250,000 to $500,000 for companies. Why he's on the list: Before moving his home base to Austin with Night Ventures in 2021, Mathews was leading deals at the big-name venture-capital fund Bessemer Venture Partners for more than five years, working his way up from associate to vice president. As a consumer-tech investor, Mathews looks for founders that are "creative and gutsy with their go to market strategy," he said, but also ones that "get our attention when they DM us on Twitter." Amit Vasudev, Earl Grey Capital Amit Vasudev, investor at Earl Grey Capital Amit Vasudev Notable Investments: NexHealth, Census, Thirdweb, Science.io, Truework What kind of startups he invests in: Vasudev invests in API-first and developer-product companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, with check sizes ranging from $100,000 to $1 million. Why he's on the list:  Before launching Earl Grey Capital in 2020, Vasudev, Alex MacCaw, and Matt Sornson cofounded the API startup Clearbit in 2015, which they scaled to host millions of global users. Vasudev and his cofounders have since been prolific investors, backing over 100 companies since the firm's inception. Vasudev told Insider that he always appreciates a warm intro to a potential portfolio company from any of his existing Earl Grey founders, LPs, or co-investors, but that he will review a cold pitch from a startup that has "strong traction and evidence of a product that customers love," he said. Joe Lonsdale and Jake Medwell, 8VC Joe Lonsdale and Jake Medwell of 8VC 8VC Notable Investments: Lonsdale cofounded Palantir, Addepar, OpenGov, Affinity, Resilience, and Epirus and invested in Oculus and Anduril. Medwell's investments include Platform Science, Project44, Citizen, Trackonomy, Outrider, Joby Aviation, Boom, FreightWaves, TUL, and Baton. What kind of startups they invest in: Logistics, biology, healthcare, IT, infrastructure, government, and defense Why they're on the list: Prior to cofounding 8VC in 2015, Lonsdale cofounded a spate of successful startups, including Palantir and the wealth-management platform Addepar. He's invested in young tech companies such as Oculus, Oscar, and Guardant Health. Medwell, another 8VC cofounder, also cofounded the startups Humin and The Kairos Society. Today, he invests in consumer and enterprise startups, and also leads 8VC's logistics-and-transportation work. Lonsdale told Insider that the firm screens for entrepreneurs who appreciate the length of time it can take for a startup to truly become successful. "We look for founders with integrity, strong opinions, unfair advantages in the space, and the ability to build exceptional technology or operational cultures — and the understanding that great companies can take a decade or more to build," he said. Diana Murakhovskaya, The Artemis Fund Diana Murakhovskaya, general partner at the Artemis fund. Diana Murakhovskaya What kind of startups she invests in: Seed-stage investing in startups with female founders Why she's on the list: As a cofounder of The Artemis Fund, Murakhovskaya invests in seed-stage startups founded by women in the fintech, e-commerce infrastructure, and care-tech spaces. "We also place value on their lived and learned experiences and how they inform the businesses they are building," she said. Prior to VC investing, Murakhovskaya spent more than a decade working in tech-investment banking and institutional-commodities sales. She graduated from Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art with a degree in mechanical engineering. Jonathan Lacoste, Space.VC Jonathan Lacoste Notable Investments: SpaceX, Loft Orbital, True Anomaly, Pixxel Space What kind of startups he invests in: Early-stage space startups at the intersection of software, AI, defense, manufacturing, and climate Why he's on the list: Lacoste officially launched Space.VC in October and announced that he had spent the previous 18 months raising and deploying $20 million into promising space startups. Before moving over to the investor side, he cofounded Jebbit, a software-development startup that lets brands create interactive online experiences and collect data without coding, in 2011. When looking at potential founders to invest in, Lacoste told Insider he looks for people who "deeply understand their customers, have a feasible technical roadmap, and a bold vision for their startups." Nino Marakovic, Sapphire Ventures and Beezer Clarkson, Sapphire Partners Beezer Clarkson, Sapphire Partners, and Nino Marakovic, Sapphire Ventures Sapphi Notable Investments: Marakovic invested in Box, LinkedIn, and Square, and as a limited partner, Clarkson invests in early-stage venture funds. What kind of startups they invest in: Sapphire Ventures invests inexpansion-stage IT and enterprise software while Sapphire Partners invests in early-stage venture capital funds. Why they're on the list: Marakovic is a partner and the CEO at Sapphire Ventures, which invests in growth-stage tech startups and early-stage venture funds. Prior to co-founding Sapphire in 2006, Marakovic was an investor at  Draper Fisher Jurvetson and IVF Ventures. He also worked at investment banks, including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Clarkson leads Sapphire's domestic and international venture-fund investing strategy. Prior to joining the firm in 2012, she completed stints at Morgan Stanley, Hewett Packard, and the Draper Fisher Jurvetson Global Network. Clarkson also founded  OpenLP  – an initiative that aims to demystify the LP perspective for the broader venture ecosystem. "We are closer to the beginning than the end of digital transformation across the majority of industries, and cloud combined with breakthrough AI will revolutionize how we live and work," Marakovic told Insider, adding that he looks for founders that embody a vision and passion for their innovations and can persist during times of adversity. Jackie DiMonte, Chicago Ventures Jackie DiMonte What kind of startups she invests in: Early stage Why she's on the list: Prior to joining Chicago Ventures in 2021, DiMonte spent nearly five years investing at the Chicago-based Hyde Park Venture Partners, invested in the podcast social-media startup Podchaser, and invested in the manufacturing-talent platform FactoryFix. DiMonte told Insider that she likes when founders are obsessed with an unsolved problem. "Problem-driven founders don't get attached to specific solutions or sidetracked by new technologies," she said. "Instead, they experiment with them in pursuit of solving big and acute problems ... thus creating the most exciting opportunities." Ryan Springer, Midnight Venture Partners Ryan Springer, founding partner at Midnight Venture Partners Ryan Springer What kind of startups he invests in: Consumer startups Why he's on the list: Springer, a Texas A&M grad, founded Midnight Venture Partners in 2020 following a five-year stint as a marketing consultant. Since moving to venture capital, he's invested in consumer companies such as the nonalcoholic drink startup Boisson and the beauty startup Jolie, which makes showerhead filters. Blair Garrou, Mercury What kind of startups he invests in: early-stage software startups originating in Middle America. Why he's on the list: Garrou is the managing director of the Houston-based Mercury Fund, which invests in startups across the SaaS, cloud, and data-science and AI sectors that make markets and industries in Middle America run more efficiently. Prior to cofounding Mercury in 2004, Garrou was the CEO of the management-software company Intermat and was a principal at the Houston-based private-equity firm Genesis Park. He graduated from Washington and Lee University. Tom Ball and Mike Smerklo, Next Coast Ventures Mike Smerklo and Tom Ball, Next Coast Ventures Tom Ball and Mike Smerklo Notable Investments: Everly Health, Boxt, Swivel, Submittable What kind of startups they invest in: Themes such as online learning, health and wellness, the future of work, retail, specialized markets. Early-stage startups outside of the coasts. Why they're on the list: Ball and Smerlko cofounded Next Coast Ventures in 2015 and invest in various market themes, such as online learning and the future of work, rather than traditional sectors. Genevieve Gilbreath, Springdale Ventures Notable Investments: Goodles, Atlas Coffee Club, First Day, Branch What kinds of startups she invests in: Seed to Series A consumer brands, both physical products and tech companies that enable consumer brands. Why she's on the list: Gilbreath began her path to venture capital as an entrepreneur herself. After working as a professor of health and human behavior at Baylor University, she went on to found a series of successful import-and-export supplement companies. During this time, she spent five years in India studying traditional-health practices and worked on NIH grants in South America and Africa. After engineering a successful exit for one of her supplement companies, she decided to focus her energy on supporting other entrepreneurs and has become a powerful advocate supporting founders in the consumer-packaged goods space in Austin, Texas, and nationwide. She served as the managing director of SKU, a consumer-products accelerator that has launched brands such as Austin Eastciders and Epic Provisions. As a cofounder and general partner of Springdale Ventures, she continues to support entrepreneurs transforming the consumer-product space. Eric Epstein, Santé Eric Epstein Notable investments: Wave, BeeKeeperAI What kinds of startups he invests in: Seed to Series A healthcare companies across three practice areas: biotech, medtech, and healthtech Why he's on the list: Epstein spent nearly a decade consulting early-stage healthcare startups with McKinsey & Company. He relocated to Austin, Texas, five years ago, when he joined Santé. He now leads Santé's healthtech practice. At Santé, Epstein focuses on disciplined fund sizes that allow for a single winning investment to return all of the capital in a fund without relying on unicorn valuations. He insisted that his entrepreneurs and investors take a hands-on approach to building businesses. "I'm a firm believer that you have to get out of the building and see what customers actually are willing to pay for, not just smart people around a table deciding on a particular strategy," he said. David Evans, Sentiero Ventures David Evans Notable investments: Data Sentinel, Geminus.AI, SingleKey What kinds of startups he invests in: Early seed-stage software companies that solve real business problems with artificial intelligence. Why he's on the list: Evans and his two cofounders at Sentiero are technologists and entrepreneurs themselves who have successfully scaled and sold technology companies and bring a deep well of knowledge to their due-diligence process. Evans started his first business at age 19 and has since built and exited multiple successful tech companies. What's more, he was working on machine learning and predictive models way back in the late 90s, including a project with NASA. "When we evaluate an opportunity, we really understand how both the product and the business will scale," Evans said. Jennifer Gill Roberts, Grit Ventures Jennifer Gill Roberts, cofounder and managing partner of Grit Ventures Jennifer Gill Roberts Notable investments: Agtonomy, Cognitive Space, RIOS What kinds of startups she invests in: She leads Grit's focus on AI-powered robotics, investing in pre-seed companies pioneering automation and transforming logistics in core industries Why she's on the list: Roberts started her career as an investor at Sevin Rosen Funds, where she led investments in seed-stage companies making optical and wireless equipment. In addition to building cutting-edge technology companies, she also serves on advisory councils at the University of Texas at Austin, Chapman University, Stanford, and the University of California Santa Cruz. At Grit, she uses her network of connections at these universities to source deals and help build her portfolio companies. During her career, she has been a committed champion for female entrepreneurs, cofounding Watermark, a nonprofit organization with over 1,000 members, in 1992. Garheng Kong, HealthQuest Capital Garheng Kong Notable investments: Everly Health, Castle Biosciences, Nomad Health, Lunit What kinds of startups he invests in: Innovative growth companies pushing for better patient outcomes in the medical-device, diagnostic, and digital-health sectors Why he's on the list: If you ever want to feel like an underachiever, simply take a look at Kong's résumé. A physician, scientist, and engineer by training, he holds an MD, Ph.D., and MBA from Duke University, in addition to undergraduate degrees in chemical engineering and biological sciences from Stanford, where he was on an athletic scholarship as a nationally-ranked volleyball player. His career has included stints as GlaxoSmithKline and McKinsey, and he sits on the boards of LabCorp, Be The Match, and Duke University Medical Center. His firsthand experience working within the healthcare system inspired him to get into entrepreneurship. "Everyone in my family is a physician and I enjoyed seeing patients individually as well," he said. "However, I thought I could impact more patients if I developed a new medical innovation and I was fortunate to do that. It was then I realized that nothing goes from the bench to the bedside without getting commercialized through a business." Since becoming an investor in the healthcare space, Kong has participated in 29 successful IPOs or M&A exits and continues to take a hands-on approach to supporting entrepreneurs. Jim Breyer, Breyer Capital Jim Breyer Notable Investments: ZenBusiness, Everly Health, Colossal, Sana Benefits, Bestow What kinds of startups he invests in: Quantum and AI health, fintech, proptech, enterprise and data, security, consumer tech, Web3, and media and gaming Why he's on the list: Breyer has been a major player in venture capital for more than two decades. He was an early investor in over 40 companies that have completed IPOs or exits, including Facebook, which he invested in in 2005. After graduating from Harvard Business School and doing stints at Apple and McKinsey, Breyer joined Accel Partners, where he worked directly under Arthur Patterson, a founder and VC legend. Eventually, he worked his way up to a senior-management role at Accel, but he said he missed rolling up his sleeves and working directly with founders. Today, at Breyer Capital, he said he spends 80% of his time thinking about investing and supporting portfolio companies. "We consistently advise founders by the principles of humility, integrity, and passion, and remind them of the ultimate purpose behind their organization, and to not lose sight of that purpose when raising funds or achieving growth and profitability," Breyer said. Cain McClary, KdT Ventures Cain McClary Notable investments: Elegen, Tavros Therapeutics, PathAI, Checkerspot What kinds of startups he invests in: Early-stage life-science companies working at the frontiers of biology and chemistry Why he's on the list: McClary is a physician by training who developed a love of cutting-edge research while in medical school when he served as a research fellow at the National Institute of Health and the National Cancer Institute. While in medical school, he emptied his bank account to make his first angel investment in Firefly Bioworks, a biotech startup spun out of MIT. After medical school, he went to Stanford to train in anatomic pathology. He split his time between the lab and Sand Hill Road, where he forged deep connections within the venture-capital community. He continued to make angel investments and eventually joined an early-stage startup, Grand Rounds, which Greylock and BlackRock backed. Finally in 2017, he decided to strike out on his own and founded KdT, where he continues to use his high technical expertise to "help entrepreneurs re-architect the world at a molecular level." Lauren Tyra, Green Park & Golf Ventures Lauren Tyra, Green Park & Golf Ventures Lauren Tyra